I made a few of these ‘bird with attitude’ onesies for Christmas. Here is our favourite little bird sporting his. 
silk screening
some more new things
I have been doing some screen printing and sewing with recycled leather making some sweet things: onesies with the bird with attitude front and centre, lucy canvas pouches, glasses/phone/makeup cases. and small change pouches.
in the studio
winner and inspiration
The winner of the Bird with Attitude pouch is Cathy! Congratulations, Cathy, and thank you to everyone who visited the shop and left comments on the blog. It is always encouraging to hear from you. A comment, a connection, makes such a difference.
Yesterday I visited The Textile Museum to see the Marimekko exhibit. What a joy it was to take in the designs, the colours, the photos and, yes, even the clothes (!)
If you get a chance, visit the exhibit to experience the vibrant colours and designs, still with such impact after 50 years. These are the fabrics of my formative years. As I walked around the exhibit I saw dresses I had worn, fabrics I had coveted, and images I had stored. Sometimes, we don’t know where our ideas come from. In Austin Kleon’s book, Steal Like an Artist, (love this book) he writes: “You are a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences…Goethe said, ‘We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.'”
Below are two of my hooked pieces where, now that I look back, I can see the Marimekko influence peaking through–the colours and the sense of play.
birdbrain online shop is open!
It’s still a work-in-progress, but the Birdbrain On-line Shop is officially open. You can click on the shop button at the top left of this page and you will be taken to the on-line store where you can see all I have for sale–in three views–and buy using paypal if you choose. Or just have a look around and write to me with a request or idea.
To celebrate the opening of the online shop and the birdbrain blog 2nd anniversary we are having a give-away. Below are some of the Bird with Attitude canvas pouches fresh from the studio. These pouches are made of heavy grade canoe canvas, screen-printed with my bird and lined with a red, blue and yellow cotton print from the market in Bondo, Kenya. Leave a comment on this post or any post this week to enter the draw for this pouch. The draw will be made Friday 22nd at 5pm.
in the studio
It was a beautiful day and I loved being out in the sunshine. But I did spend the morning in the studio–my favourite place to be on a Sunday morning is in the studio with the CBC. I am making a run of Bird with Attitude pouches, lined with this great Kenyan cotton. They will be in the shop shortly and one will be for a give-away to celebrate the blog anniversary. I will tell you about it all tomorrow.
screen printing experiments
I spent the morning screen printing, a good activity for a damp, dreary day. Above is the polka dot bird on a lovely khaki cotton. I picture it as the lining for bags and totes. Below are some sweatshirts which I screened with the Otter Lake Canoe Company logo and the polka dot bird.
I liked the look of the logo so much on the sweatshirts that I decided to experiment with it on wood. I had no idea if the image would take on the pine, but it worked beautifully. The plan is to make storage crates and smaller boxes with the logo on one end. My next trial will be screen printing on leather–I think it would be fun to make leather pouches with bird graphics on them.
www dot pouches and tote
I am back home and back at it. I still have photos from the show and from the class to post. I hope to do that tomorrow–so stay tuned. In the meantime, here are some of the new canvas items I am working on. I love the geometric quality of the new patterns. The pouches are lined with red cotton print and are a perfect size, 8×5″. The tote is 13x18x4″ with two recycled leather interior pockets, heavy-duty leather straps and a leather bottom. Also a clip for your keys, soon to be riveted in! The canvas is canoe-grade, so the tote is up to carrying all your gear. These items will be available at the December show.
preparing for some new things
I was in Toronto yesterday to make some new screens and get some materials. I love the light in Arounna’s shop and I love her quiet encouragement even more. I don’t make new screens very often and I certainly needed lots of prodding on the process yesterday. Here is a glimpse of what is to come. I am thinking small pouches, larger canvas totes and lining for leather bags.
catch-up
Adam, a friend of my son, is a great photographer. He visited the cottage and took these shots. Particularly good ones of Colin.
Also, a package arrived in the mail last week from South Africa. Skinny Laminx is one of my favourite designers–I ordered some of her remnants to line my small bags–and couldn’t resist a pair of her table napkins! 
I’ve been working on my own new designs and hope to have some fabric for pouches and bags by the end of September. This week I will be filling orders and making more colour therapy pouches. If you wrote to me about them, I hope to have them in the shop by the end of the week.